Bengkulu offers biodiversity project
Antara 13 May 10;
Bengkulu, Sumatra (ANTARA News) - Bengkulu has offered a biodiversity project to the world in order to get compensation funds, according to a local official.
The biodiversity project covering 15,000 hectares of forest area, is located in Mukomuko District, Bengkulu Province, Khairil Burhan, head of the Bengkulu provincial forestry office, said, here, Thursday.
The project being implemented by Sipef foundation has been offered internationally since two years ago, he said. The Sipef foundation was set up by a Belgian plantation company which owns majority shares of PT Agro Muko, an oilpalm plantation and crude palm oil processing company in Mukomuko District.
The Sipef foundation has been ready to financially support the preservation of biodiversity in Mukomuko for a 10-year period, according to Burhan.
"The budget has been allocated and is ready to be disbursed for the preservation of biodiversity after all prerequisites have been met," he said.
Based on a report of the Sipef foundation, the activities would be implemented from 2010 until 2014.
The Mukomuko authorities have also made an inventory of biodiversity in the location of the biodiversity project and prepared a master plan with the assistance of David Gaveau, a French conservationist who has been researching Sumatran forests, especially the South Bukit Barisan National Park, for tens of years. (*)
